10% service charge

Searcher

I normally ask the server if they receive the service charge.
If they say yes then I'm happy to pay it. If they say no then I asked for it to be removed and tip with cash.

BlueAngelCV

I don't like service charges. If I want to leave a tip I will choose to do so. I don't want to me told that I should or how much I should leave.

Personally I don't understand the "tip" culture.
IMO people are paid to do their job. If they are especially good then maybe they should get a tip. If they just do their job adequately then why should they get a tip?!
Having said that I always do leave a tip. I've even left tips for the hairdresser in the past when the cut's been so bad that I went home in tears!

jennikitten

deanos wrote: »

Eh ?

Shouldn't that be included in the cost of the meal ?

Look on the flip side - if you typically went out for a meal with 1-3 others, would you like to pay more for your meal to cover the costs of a large party who were there?

Bigger parties = more attention, potentially tables need moving, more mess, may need more staff etc. I think it's reasonable.

A compulsory charge for less than 5 people I would find annoying.

deanos

jennikitten wrote: »

Look on the flip side - if you typically went out for a meal with 1-3 others, would you like to pay more for your meal to cover the costs of a large party who were there?

Bigger parties = more attention, potentially tables need moving, more mess, may need more staff etc. I think it's reasonable.

A compulsory charge for less than 5 people I would find annoying.

A business should be happy with more customers but yet they penalise you, seems very odd that they try and put off people from coming.

molerat

Maybe the local butcher should try it, that'll be £11.40 madam plus 10% service. Do you think they would get away with it ? Just another antiquated rip off that should be made illegal. Goes to show what they really think of their customers. I expect service, I do not expect to pay extra for it.

jennikitten

deanos wrote: »

A business should be happy with more customers but yet they penalise you, seems very odd that they try and put off people from coming.

It's not as simple as more customers = good.

Some customers cost more or spend less in the long run. E.g. I worked for a b2b company who disliked individual consumers/customers ordering (despite a high value order), because it cost them more in support & provided less long term value than a business customer.

For restaurants, the more parties who can sit at one table during a night, the more they are going to make. One party is only ever going to spend up to a certain amount. If this happens in a small restaurant, then valuable tables may be taken for long periods of time (bigger parties are more likely to stay longer, but can spend less per person due to sharing, 2 for 1 deals, spending more time socialising, only some people ordering starters and desserts etc.).

Another factor is things like work Christmas parties, where one person is paying for it & others have it paid for them or pay in advance and don't think to tip.

If the place doesn't have a licence to sell alcohol, then that may be another factor.

Andy_L

jennikitten wrote: »

Look on the flip side - if you typically went out for a meal with 1-3 others, would you like to pay more for your meal to cover the costs of a large party who were there?

Bigger parties = more attention, potentially tables need moving, more mess, may need more staff etc. I think it's reasonable.

A compulsory charge for less than 5 people I would find annoying.

Never worked in a resturant so I've got no idea but is a table of 12 actually more work than, say, 6 tables of 2? I'd of thought the "waiter-ing" for 1 table is quicker/easier than 6 different tables but then harder in the kitchen to get 12 meals ready for a simultaneous time-on-table

Bettie

Andy_L wrote: »

Never worked in a resturant so I've got no idea but is a table of 12 actually more work than, say, 6 tables of 2? I'd of thought the "waiter-ing" for 1 table is quicker/easier than 6 different tables but then harder in the kitchen to get 12 meals ready for a simultaneous time-on-table

I could give a much _ better _ service to six -twos than a 12party, especially so if I was working alone. Good service is not about speed, not in the type of restaurants I have worked in.
If we had a large party then those tables were kept for the night. Smaller groups and the tables can have a higher turnover making more money for the restaurant and more chances of tips for staff.
I have worked with some very lazy/arrogant/rude/ignorant staff that do not deserve to be tipped but when waiting staff go out of their way to give a good, friendly, efficient service, often staying well over their paid hours then they really do deserve a tip and IMO it should go to the waitress and no one else. Maybe I feel like this because I have in the past been a waitress and who was it that was still there at 2 am waiting on customers? Not the chef or washer up that's for sure, they were long gone and yet both paid more per shift than the waitress.
Also large parties often have a smaller choice menu or a table d'hote where it is charged per person. This is cheaper than a la carte so not so much money coming in.

A_Name

A_Name wrote: »

Where I work, we add 10% for parties of 10 or more simply because they rarely tip as well as 10 people split between 2 or 3 tables.

missile wrote: »

It may be more work but you get paid more.

It seemed you missed the main point of my post. I'm paid hourly, aside from tips.

anared wrote: »

I think places do it because some people think it is acceptable to leave £5 or £10 on a bill of £200 for 6 people for example!!

This. The worst night I ever worked, we had a table of 40 in our 44 cover restaurant (so no other customers would even dream of coming in). They stayed for 5 hours, their bill was over £500. They tipped... 0. No food was sent back to the kitchen (where I was working), and no complaints were made about the service. They were just people who 'don't tip'. That's fine. We all know what company they work for, and when that company called up to make another reservation (because they so enjoyed last time!) we were 'fully booked'.

Bettie wrote: »

IMO it should go to the waitress and no one else. Maybe I feel like this because I have in the past been a waitress and who was it that was still there at 2 am waiting on customers? Not the chef or washer up that's for sure, they were long gone and yet both paid more per shift than the waitress.

Where I work, the kitchen staff are paid a pittance too, hence tips are split between all of us - that, and it's such a small restaurant that we'll often have people doing shifts where they'll both wait and cook (with another waitress and chef), as all the kitchen staff are able to carry food as well as cook it. I particularly enjoy cooking, serving and clearing a single table myself - assuming they like the food, and someone else does the washing up.

Andy_L wrote: »

Never worked in a resturant so I've got no idea but is a table of 12 actually more work than, say, 6 tables of 2? I'd of thought the "waiter-ing" for 1 table is quicker/easier than 6 different tables but then harder in the kitchen to get 12 meals ready for a simultaneous time-on-table

It depends. You're more likely to be constantly busy with small tasks with many smaller tables, but when a big table all want something it takes much more time - so if you have a big table AND a couple of smaller tables (which is usually more realistic) it's hard to not ignore the smaller ones when catering to the large ones. When i'm working on my own, like Bettie, I'd much prefer all smaller tables. It's far easier to remember who ordered what, I can show off and not write stuff down, and there's more often a natural gap in conversation when you can approach the table.

In the kitchen, I much prefer super-large tables in a masochistic way. Yes, you're screwed while that table is on... but then you have a guaranteed hour or so of tidying down and playing 'what can we put in the deep fryer today' (dark chocolate in beer batter is awesome) as you KNOW everyone is eating, and you'll have no more orders on. The 12 or so size can be a pain or easy, depending on what they order.

suited-aces

I used to get paid min wage in the shop I worked in, I would never have refused to serve someone because they didn't tip me the last time they were in.